March 24, 2011

This morning, I learned via Facebook that there was a civil disobedience event planned for the first floor of the Wisconsin Capitol, where some people holding signs were ticketed by police yesterday. Alerted that it was going to begin in 15 minutes, Meade, mid-pancake, shifted into action and got there in time to catch the action:

The video begins and ends with shots of school kids enjoying the Capitol in traditional style, standing and lying down in the center of the rotunda, gazing up into the magnificent dome. In between, we see Ben Masel — the iconic Madison activist — holding up a protest sign, which is supposedly now forbidden at the first floor level. He also reads the free-speech portion of the Wisconsin Constitution, which is right there, as one of the 4 first floor monuments. (You've seen Meade and me protecting the Veterans Monument.) But Ben and his small cadre of civil disobeyers don't manage to get themselves arrested, and we see them file out, past the monumental head of Robert La Follette.

By the way, I think if the protests are going to be confined to one area of the Capitol, it would be better to have them on the first floor, leaving the rotunda free for the kids to scamper about — without tripping on signs — and lie down where they can get the best view up into the dome. That's an aesthetic and child-loving opinion, not a legal opinion.

In Banking there was a saying about an old time Loan Officer that, "He needs to take it to the house". That meant that a man who once brought in customers and deals that made the Bank money, now he has become a danger to the bank to lose money, so he needs to go home and rest before he loses anything. Ben Masel is in that category now.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said..."My grandmother would roll over in her grave is she ever saw those kids rolling around on the floor of a public building."

Mine would too. In fact, she would probably quote Rush Limbaugh quoting George W. Bush quoting Winston Churchill: Before you walk a mile in another man's shoes, take a look at the man's shoes just in case, while walking in 'em himself, he stepped in manure.

Considering the "bisquickus interruptus" of this morning, I prescribe a trip to the nearest steak-house for dinner (funded exclusively by recent Paypal donations and Amazon %'s). Too bad you had to miss a meal just to film a dude who'd obviously rather be selling Whip-its at a Phish concert.

I have this image of Meade racing down the road, stacks of pancakes balanced precariously in both hands, Flip and still cameras trailing behind him from lanyards around his neck. Not content for the news to find him, he finds it first. He's sort of the anti-Drudge, what with the original reporting and all.

You've been sleeping in the dome,But you look real rested You set out to outrage But you can't get arrestedYou say your image is new,But it looks well testedYou're lost without a crowd Yet you go your own way

Heck, he could copy whomever is responsible for conduct of Assemblymen. (Just as I can go after a judge who misbehaves in her courtroom. Where I write to the Head judge in LA. And, handing a copy to the judge's sheriff, when the court doors open.) You'd be surprised, but the old fashioned way of sending mail, is superior to e-mail. And, I'm not just being old-fashioned.

Plus, with copies, Meade can go back to Hulsey's office and deliver a copy of what's in the mail, to Terri. She can't turn it into toilet paper. Not if there's a list of folk who also get copies.

Let alone the letter, itself, is now posted here.

You have a legitimate complaint!

Let alone a story with legs as gorgeous as Betty Grable's. They were once insured for a million dollars.

Many years ago in my hometown in upstate New York a group of anti-war nuns decided to send a message. They climbed over a fence at the nearby Air Base and got into a B-52 hanger and proceeded to hammer at it. After some time they noticed no one showing up for the obligatory and press-worthy arrests.

So one of them had to call base security and alert them to the fact that a group of crazy nuns were assaulting a BUF on the base.

Isn't this special? Imagine finding my niece from Oshkosh in your video taken at the Capitol today! My brother will be very interested in viewing your footage. Thank you for your observation of and rational engagement with the political melee.

The dome on the capitol at Denver is actually two domes. If you know about the secret door, and now you do, you can enter upon a metal stairway that wends between the metalwork supporting the outer dome. Very Hitchcockian. Then once at top it is possible to exit the outer dome upon a balcony that circles the entire thing, there to enjoy a 360° view of the city, the planes, Capitol Hill, the city, and the mountain range. The notable peaks, Pikes Peak, Long Peak, etc., are demarcated on the parapet.

From the article: "He doesn't have health insurance and hasn't had a conventional job in a long time. But he has a history of winning false arrest and First Amendment lawsuits, 'which is a great hourly rate if you can wait forever to get paid,' he joked."

In other words, he's a typical leftist: A parasite who performs no useful work but lives off of those who do.

I noticed shiloh in the other thread complaining about all these "anti-union" posts by simply video-documenting what they do. So for balance Meadehouse is supposed to go find a bunch of right-wingers behaving badly right? Where?

It’s surprising the amount of restraint the police are showing. These protesters have no clue how fortunate they are to live where they do.

For example, when I was in Baghdad I read a report where two vehicles were involved in an accident. The occupants became engaged in an argument which unfortunately interrupted the lunch of a group of Iraqi policemen. When the occupants did not cease their argument the IPs ended up shooting two or three of them.

Hey Beth,You coming down to MAD-I-son on your spring break to join your fellow teachers, chanting and banging drums on how bad you've got it? Or can't you afford the plane ticket this year from New Orleans on a po' ole public servants salary? Solidarity, eh?

Masel is a harmless old fool. But the Battle of to retake Madison is ongoing by the Union that wants its control back. Madison is the Guadalcanal of this war. By always fighting back as reinforcements are pour in from other Union bases, the unions will be exposed as only a better educated version of Johnny Friendly's Waterfront Longshoreman's racket that Marlon Brando defeated with the guts to tell the truth about it. The threats and actual retributions from the Union Thugs is cold and calculated crimes. Sam Masel is not one of them.

What law is he disobeying? The Fire Marshal's code? He seems to be disturbing the peace that should maintain in that building where a lot of people are trying to work, but nobody's arresting him for that, so he ends up looking like a big fool without a point to make.

"What's it gonna take to get a citation around here?" Probably more than this.

Unfortunately, he's being drowned out by the kids. What was he there to discuss? Who is he petitioning? His sign doesn't really make sense, since nobody is challenging his right to be a loudmouth.

That dome is so beautiful it ought to inspire silent contemplation, but this guy seems more driven by a need for attention. Well he got it here at the Alhouse blog.

This isn't as farcical as the bank protest. The demonstrators, almost by definition, want attention and Meade photographs them. The demonstrators notice themselves being noticed and protest against being noticed by photographing the photographer who also wants to be noticed. An infinite regression, like a chamelon on a mirror. The protestors undoubtedly have fantasies about "Walker plants" or maybe even FBI agents monitoring their dangerous (yeah, right) activities. Meade's phtography not only proves that they are noticed but gives them a frisson of danger which they can bravely confront. Meade, for his part, can feel the subtle but brute presence of union thugs. And so it goes.

Ann Meade and all those who comment here I need help with a sign. I will be in southern Wisconsin next weekend or the following and wanted to visit the capital with a "cleverly worded" sign.IF you remember the "protest warrior" group(s) who went to anti-war protests and carried signs that looked like they belonged but if you actually read them they were counter-protest signs.

That's what want. I need help with making a clever sign. I was thinking something like: "Union, spending your money so you don't have to." "Unions, we're so weak we have the government confiscate dues for us.""Union: Government that's bought and paid for (by you, not for you).""Purple Power: Regal colors for the regally inept"

Any suggestions....

cross posted on two threads, which is really bad form..... I guess Ann will just have to "spank" a fellow professor..... :)